What's That Smell? (Part Two)

Continuing with our discussion of how we perceive smells:

It's interesting to learn that smell preferences are not innate.

The easiest way to check this is to study babies--If our likes/dislikes for smells were hard-wired, then newborns and very young children would show the same patterns of preference that adults do, right from the start.

But they don't...

Herz (2007) explains how infants actually show a preference for the smell of feces, but they don't seem bothered by things adults would consider very unpleasant (rancid cheese); conversely, they don't show any particular favoritism for smells that most adults would identify as pleasant (banana).

Herz notes: "It is not until around age eight that children begin to match the responses of adults in their culture."

And even then, there is wide variability.

The U.S. Army has tried (and failed) to produce a universal "Stink Bomb"--something that could replace the more dangerous method of tear gas when it became necessary to disperse a crowd.

Unfortunately, there is no universally repugnant odor.

Really? Apparently so... A few examples:

Some tribal cultures put dung in their hair as a cosmetic.

In earlier times, before the advent of refrigeration, rotten meat and fish were often served. Accounts from that period suggest that the odor and flavor of rotten food could actually be preferred by some, as it was considered more intense. (I'll bet it was!)

And in her book The Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman describes the smell of durian fruit as a cross between "a sewer and a grave." Yet people in Southeast Asia consider it a delicacy.

Smell preferences are learned, not inborn.

The key is first associations: What were you feeling when you first encountered a new smell? (Remember from Part One: Our sense of smell and our emotions are tightly linked.)

(It's interesting that the closest thing to a universally preferred smell is Vanilla--and the chemical components of vanilla are present in human breast milk, as well as many prepared baby formulas. First associations with comfort and nurturing.)

For Writers to consider:

1) Could one of your characters loooove a scent that many people find unpleasant?

2) Could two of your characters argue over whether a scent is pleasant or unpleasant?

3) Could one of your characters put dung in her hair? (Just kidding...unless you actually write tribal stories or prehistoric epics like Clan of the Cave Bear. Notions of cleanliness were different back then, before Head and Shoulders shampoo commercials.)

4) Particular smell preferences (and how intense those preferences are) can be another way of differentiating characters...and might even play a minor (or major) role in your plot.

What about you? Anything you love to smell that others generally avoid? Or scents you can't stand that others tend to enjoy?

reference: Rachel Herz, 2007; The Scent of Desire (William Morrow)